Dropping the anchor and occupying the crease for a long time is an art by itself, a very difficult one to master at that, and certainly not everyone’s cup of tea. The ability to score runs and to persist in the middle is a gargantuan task to manage in tandem.
Sapped out body, testing conditions, wavering concentration and the troublesome part-timers are some of the deterrents that nip in the bud a promising big knock before it transcends into a historic milestone.
Here are the top 10 knocks in Test cricket that defied all of the above, and are etched in cricketing history and amazing essays of batsmanship and examples of remarkable concentration and mind-power.
#10 MARK TAYLOR (334*)
In 1998, Taylor became only the fourth Australian to score a triple century in Tests. “Tubby” as he was affectionately known, halted at the 334 mark, declaring the innings to stay at par with Don Bradman’s highest Test score as a mark of respect.
He fully utilized the dropped chances that he was gifted with at the start of his innings, and although the innings was defensive compared to Bradman’s more attacking knock, it reflected the same score at the end. Taylor hit 32 boundaries in the epic knock, and batted for 564 balls.
#9 WALTER HAMMOND (336*)
Led by Curly Page, New Zealand chose to bat first, but could only assemble 158 runs on the board. In reply, Walter Hammond scored an unbeaten 336, the then highest Test score. He also hit a record 10 sixes, cutting, driving, hooking and pulling everything that was there for offer, taking a mere 47 minutes to jump from 200 to 300.
Apart from 10 sixes, he also hit 34 fours, and ended the series with an average of 563, a record that still remains undefeated.
#8 HANIF MOHAMMAD (337)
The late Hanif Mohammad, the original Little Master, compiled an innings of incredible persistence, staying put for as many as 971 minutes on the crease. He saved the Test match for his country, batting through the three and a half days of the six day Test to force a draw.
Having managed only 106 in the first innings, Pakistan, on the back of Mohammad’s epic effort, scored 657 in the second one. He scored a total of 24 boundaries. The very next year, he compiled another mammoth knock, a 499 for Karachi against Bahawalpur.
#7 SANATH JAYASURIYA (340)
India was at the receiving end of a mammoth partnership between Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama, a stand that turned out to be the biggest of all times for any wicket. Jayasuriya, batting at his customary opening position, combined with Roshan Mahanama, who came one-down, to stitch together a 576-run stand.
Jayasuriya, along with Mahanama, batted for two full days, tiring the Indian bowlers beyond recovery to score 340, the highest individual score by a Sri Lankan until 2006. The Sri Lankans managed to put 952-6, the highest Test score ever, batting for a mammoth 271 overs.
#6 LEN HUTTON (364)
As a young 14-year old, Hutton watched Bradman compose the highest score in Test cricket. Eight years later, he eclipsed the giant himself, while the Australian batting great could only watch as a fielder.
As he batted for over 13 hours, the 22 year old broke record after record to become the first batsman to score over 350 runs in a Test innings, compiling a massive 382 run partnership with Maurice Leyland. With only five Tests under his belt, Hutton showed remarkable composure and concentration to become Test cricket’s highest score. His innings was decorated with 35 boundaries.
#5 GARRY SOBERS (365*)
Considered by many as the greatest all rounder to have graced the game, Sobers had the remarkable ability to pick out even the smallest of gaps on the off side, and was equally adept on his leg side play. Batting with a high backlift, he was famous for his square slashes past point and glances off his pads.
As a 21-year old playing against Pakistan, he managed to convert his first international century into the highest score in Test cricket, a record that stood for 36 long years before being usurped by another West Indian.
#4 MAHELA JAYAWARDENE (374)
Mahela Jayawardene’s batting is poetic fluency let loose. With an elegant follow-through of the bat, and a lazy backlift that made the shot making process effortless, Jayawardene went on to become one of the greats of his country.
Against South Africa in 2006, Jayawardene managed to compile the highest Test score ever by a right hander, a classy 374, which, in tandem with Kumar Sangakkara’s 287, broke the record for the highest partnership for any wicket in all first-class matches.Gifted with loads of concentration and working like a pre-programmed machine, Jayawardene punished the South African bowlers (including Ntini, Andre Nel, and a young Steyn) on a sluggish wicket to assemble a mammoth 572 ball effort.
#3 BRIAN LARA (375)
1994 was a watershed year for Mr. Lara, scoring a world record unbeaten 501 for Warwickshire, eclipsing Hanif Mohammad’s tally of 499 set in 1959. However, before that mammoth knock, the 24 year-old Trinidadian broke his compatriot Garry Sobers’ national record, and Len Hutton’s world record.
Sobers himself came to personally congratulate Lara amidst a of hoard of fans who had flooded the field after Lara had eclipsed the former’s 365. For his knock, he faced 538 deliveries, hitting almost a half-century of boundaries.
#2 MATTHEW HAYDEN (380)
In 2002, Steve Waugh had predicted that the burly Australian opener, Matthew Hayden, would usurp Brian Lara’s then highest score of 375. In October 2003, against a Zimbabwean attack led by Heath Streak, Hayden rewrote Test cricket’s chapters with a brilliant knock.
He started slowly, and took his time to reach his first hundred, almost half the time he took to reach the other 280 runs of his. He switched gears thereafter, and made a mockery of the attack on the way to the record. He worked Ray Prince to long on for a single to go past Brian Lara’s record, celebrating with the Baggy Green in one hand, and the bat in the other. It was a remarkable turnaround for a player that had played his first six Tests in an interval of three years.
#1 BRIAN LARA (400*)
The undisputed champion of stacking up huge scores in the longest format, Lara had a massive appetite for staying put for long sessions at a stretch. The high backlift and the subsequent flourish of the bat made for an enchanting sight.
In 1994, he broke two long standing records in the space of three months, first bettering fellow countryman Gary Sobers’ record for the highest score in Tests, and then usurping Hanif Mohammad’s 499 to become the first batsman to score a quintuple century in first class cricket.
10 years later, the hunger for runs hadn’t vanished, as he became the first batsman to score 400 runs in a single innings in Tests.
In the fourth Test of West Indies’ series against England in 2004, he swept Gareth Batty towards deep backward square leg for his four hundredth run, having spent almost 13 hours at the crease, undefeated.
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